He hit play. A nervous voice filled the room—the fixer.
“Maria Valencia… she was the senator’s mistress. She threatened to go public with their affair… He said, ‘She’s a liability. Remove her.’… I arranged the hit.”
A pause on the recording, then the voice dropped to a whisper.
“And the priest, Father Gabriel… Sofia Ivanova went to him. He knew about the orphanage… The Senator found out. He called it ‘tying up a loose end.’ I was the one who made the priest talk before he died…”
The recording ended. The silence was absolute. A cold, precise fury settled in Tonio’s veins, narrowing his world to a single target.
He placed a thick file on the desk. “Wraith’s work. The financials, the shell companies, the payments. It’s a conspiracy to commit murder.”
Luc’s gaze was fixed on the phone. “You have a sworn confession from the man who facilitated two murders for a United States Senator.”
“I have a death warrant for Randall Young’s career,” Tonio’s voice was low, final. “A bullet makes him a martyr. A scandal makes him a monster. I want him in a prison cell, knowing the whole world sees the coward he is. That’s the justice her mother never got.”
Luc finally looked up. He walked to a cabinet, unlocked a wall safe, and pulled out a flash drive. He placed it on the table.
“This isn’t justice,” Luc said. “It’s a pivot.” He held up the flash drive. “The defense deal was a product. This is a weapon. Young is a liability. His body count leads to our doorstep. He stood and walked to the window, looking down at the city. “If we take his deal, we chain ourselves to a sinking ship. But if wecontrolhis downfall…” Luc turned, a slow, cold smile on his face. “We don’t just survive. We send a message:Cross us, and this is your fate.That is worth a hundred defense contracts.”
“The meet tomorrow—” Tonio began.
“—is a presentation,” Luc finished. “We show him the cliff. His choice is how he falls.”
“We end it tomorrow.”
“We end him.”
Tonio turned and left, the ghost of a dead mother and a betrayed daughter clinging to the files in his hand.
The hunter was now the avenger.
Midnight, Warehouse District
The abandonedtextile mill stood in a no-man’s-land between zoning maps—one of Luc’s forgotten properties, its rusted beams and rotting floorboards perfect for private conversations. The kind that never happened.
Tonio waited near the entrance, the infamous folder tucked under one arm. His face gave nothing away. Still, his jaw ticked.
Carlos stood just behind, trench coat unbuttoned, gun visible at his hip. Luc leaned against a rusted beam, expression unreadable, cigar burning low between his fingers.
Headlights swept the lot, then cut out. A single silhouette approached the entrance. The Senator. He’d left his security at the perimeter—a show of arrogant control, not trust. Expensive trench coat, pressed collar, smug entitlement clinging to him like cologne.
“You boys like theatrics,” he said, stepping into the circle of light.
“Offices have cameras,” Tonio replied flatly. “You like hiding skeletons. So here we are.”
Tonio stepped forward. He didn't drop the folder. Instead, he pulled a small, black audio player from his pocket and placed it on the crate. He pressed play.
A clear, digital recording of the Senator’s own voice filled the space.
“…a liability. Remove her. And make sure the priest can’t talk to anyone, especially that Ivanova girl…”
Tonio stopped the recording. The silence was absolute.
The Senator’s face went from smug to ashen in a heartbeat. “What is this?” he demanded, his voice tight. “We had a deal. I was offering you a seat at the table.”
“The table’s collapsing,” Luc said from the shadows, not moving from his beam.
“You’re making a catastrophic mistake,” the Senator snapped, a flicker of his old authority returning. “I have files too.Your family’s name is on half the dirty money flowing through this city. You burn me, and I’ll make sure you burn twice as bright.”
